docs-pdflisted

# PDF Production PDF is a *destination format* — everything is frozen, so every decision (page size, fonts, breaks) must be right before export. Route first, design second. ## Route selection (decide before building anything) - **Screen report / one-pager / ebook** → HTML + CSS → headless-Chrome/weasyprint print. Best layout control per page, easy iteration. - **Text-heavy formal doc with equations/long tables** → LaTeX or pandoc→PDF. Best typographic defaults, worst iteration loop. - **Already a .docx that must stay identical** → export from the office suite, don't rebuild. - **Form/fillable** → build interactive PDF directly (AcroForm), don't rasterize. ## Layout rules - Page setup first: size (A4 vs Letter — pick the reader's convention), orientation, margins ≥ 15mm; print adds 3mm bleed only when the printer asks. - Running header (short title) + footer (page x of y) from page 2; cover page unnumbered. - Never split: a table across pages without a repeated header row, a heading from its first paragraph, a figure from its caption. - Type: body ≥ 10.5pt/1.5 for screen, ≥ 10pt for print; measure 60–75 chars; hyphenation off for CJK-heavy text. ## The three silent failures (always check) 1. **Fonts not embedded** — recipient sees substituted type and reflowed layout. Verify embedding, not just "font looks fine here". 2. **Rasterized text** — image-based export breaks search, copy, and accessibility. If it must be scanned, add an OCR text layer. 3. **File bloat** — unoptim